Amazon trying to steal Google Print’s thunder with new service

Amazon answered Google Print's launch with a launch of it's own: how about …

Forget Google Print, Amazon wants to one-up Google's newly unveiled search service by offering what it can't: online access to complete works. While Google Print has been embroiled in controversy since day one, Amazon looks to be out to scratch two itches with the problem: make the publishers happy, and give users complete access.

To that end, Amazon is launching two new services. The first, more basic service is called Amazon Pages. Want only 30 pages out of a book? Amazon Pages will sell online access to a portion of a work, which could be ideal for recipes, edited volumes, and non-fiction works that are nicely organized. Think about students, too. If your Prof assigned only one-third of the book, then why buy the whole thing? The second service, dubbed Amazon Upgrade, offers a one-two punch in the form of selling complete online access to a work alongside a print copy. The thinking here is that users will buy a book to get instant access to it, and a physical copy of the book will be sent to them as well. According to Amazon, your online copy will also persist, being associated with your account.

The second program, Amazon Upgrade, will allow customers to "upgrade" their purchase of a physical book on Amazon.com to include complete online access. For example, a software developer who buys a Java programming book will not only get the physical book delivered to his or her home, but will also get 24x7 Web access to the complete interior text of the book. Buy a cookbook and you will not only have it on your shelf, but also be able to access it anywhere via the Web.

As you may recall, Amazon began offering the ability to search within popular books two years ago, although to date the entire catalog has not been scanned. Amazon currently claims that one half of all books they sell are indexed, however.

Although Amazon hasn't publicly said so, this service is clearly aimed at Google Print's shortcomings. Whatever your philosophical orientation towards copyright is, the people who hold the copyrights are far more likely to embrace something like Amazon Pages and Amazon Upgrade than the more searchtastic Google Print.

Currently Google cannot sell electronic copies of books, or even portions thereof, but I wouldn't expect that to last forever. The search maestro may very well unveil its Google Wallet system precisely with this functionality in mind. However, Amazon has one potential ace up their sleeve: a huge body of users. If Amazon plays it smart, they'll not only offer Amazon Upgrade on new purchases, but they would also enable it retroactively for a discount.

Is Amazon poised to become your personal library?

I do have a few worries, however. The textbook industry can be mighty evil, and I can see them choosing to leave their books out of this program. I also doubt that the service will allow for portable content. It may be that online materials have to stay online for fears of piracy. There's much unknown at this point, but things just got that much more exciting for book nerds.

Oh no!

Ken Fisher / Ken is the founder & Editor-in-Chief of Ars Technica. A veteran of the IT industry and a scholar of antiquity, Ken studies the emergence of intellectual property regimes and their effects on culture and innovation.